Chapter Seven
Preparations and Events
Avdol and Polnareff were setting the table when the doorbell rang. Avdol headed to the door and answered it.
"Joseph, Caesar, Suzy, how are you tonight?" he said as he looked out on the three arrivals.
Joseph smiled and walked in followed by Caesar and Suzy. "We're all good. How are you guys?"
"Fine, fine," Avdol said as he led them into the dining room where Polnareff had just finished setting the table.
Everyone sat down around the table as Polnareff passed out the plates. He sat down and smiled at their guests. "We finally got your cousin's situation squared away. We got that boy out of the Vampire's Nest."
Joseph nodded. "That's good. The Vampire's Nest used to be my grandfather's place, you know," he said as they all began to eat.
"Yeah, I remember that," Caesar nodded as he took a sip of his wine.
"Dio and my grandfather used to be friends, and Dio wanted to buy out the Vampire's Nest. It used to be a club with a Victorian/steampunk theme, but Dio wanted to make it something else. My grandfather got shot and went into a coma for a long while. No one could ever prove who shot him, but we're pretty sure Dio was at fault. He hadn't been successful trying to buy his own club. While Grandfather was comatose, and Grandma Erina was busy, Dio used his connections to buy the club out from under them." Joseph shook his head and took another bite. "To this day, he swears Dio was at fault and wishes he could prove it."
Avdol nodded. "That man is slippery. I've been after him for various reasons over the years. Nothing seems to stick to him. He has people that work for him that make it impossible to get him for anything."
"I'm just glad that the Gold Experience is a good place to work at unlike the Vampire's Nest. They can't keep employees," Polnareff muttered as he took a bite.
"How is it to work at a club like that when you don't do that kinky stuff?" Caesar asked.
Polnareff snorted. "They don't expect me to join in," he said with a chuckle. "The people that come there are exceedingly nice, and Bruno runs the place well."
"How are Jotaro and his boy?" Joseph asked, looking over at Polnareff curiously. "I haven't been keeping up with my cousin lately."
"Well, now that things got sorted with Kakyoin, he's a lot better. He was on edge for the week he was gone. Seems to me he cares a lot for the boy. Though, Kakyoin is quite shaken by the whole thing and I think he's still got a while to go before he's really back to normal. Dio even scarred his face over his eyelids," Polnareff explained with a sigh. "He hopefully will recover from whatever Dio did to him in that week. He really hasn't talked about what happened around us at the club, but then they just brought him back last night."
Joseph shook his head. "Dio is a cruel man, and obviously doesn't care who is in his way. I feel bad for Kakyoin." He paused and looked thoughtful. "Is Jotaro good at the, you know, stuff?"
Avdol chuckled at the awkward asking of it. "Not everyone has been banned from using handcuffs like you, Joseph."
"Just because I lost a key or two!" Joseph announced, crossing his arms over his chest.
"A key or two," Caesar muttered while Suzy snickered. "You weren't the one stuck in handcuffs until someone figured out how to pick the lock."
Joseph blushed slightly and looked away from his two lovers. "Well, they're small," he mumbled into his chest while everyone else erupted into snickers and chuckles.
"Anyway, aren't you getting ready for the big Fetish Ball coming up soon?" Susy asked with a grin toward Polnareff. "That sounds like an interesting event!"
"Yeah, every year it is a big deal. Unlike the masquerade that Dio runs, the Fetish Ball donates all their proceeds to a local LGBT organization. There's always a big turnout and never any problems. I just hope that this year is no different," Polnareff sighed as he started picking up the plates.
Joseph followed him with his eyes as he moved. "You think Dio might retaliate?"
"I doubt he will," Avdol commented as he helped pick up the dishes and take them to the kitchen. "He's going to have too much else to worry about now that we picked up that identity thief. He was quick to point the finger at Dio and reveal all sorts of interesting information to the police."
"I hope Dio gets his," Suzy frowned. "He's gotten away with things for far too long."
"Agreed," Caesar said, leaning back in his chair a bit.
"I think he made a mistake by messing with Jotaro. It was only by Bruno's firm hand that he didn't go off half cocked and running in there to punch Dio in the face." Polnareff sat back down and shook his head. "That boy isn't one you want to piss off."
"He's a Joestar, after all," Joseph said with a grin spreading across his face.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Morning dawned bright and clear on the two people sleeping in the bed that was probably a bit too small for the two of them. Jotaro woke first, coming to consciousness slowly and found his arms around something warm. Then he remembered Kakyoin was with him. He was really back and safe. He was really here again. He squeezed him gently, causing him to stir and start to wake up. He sighed and brushed Kakyoin's hair back from his face.
As his eyes fluttered open, Jotaro stared into them, trying not to let the anger that threatened him every time Kakyoin looked at him with those cuts on his eyes and face. It was all that he could manage to hide the broiling anger that was just under the surface. He instead forced a smile on his face and petted Kakyoin's hair gently.
"Good morning," he whispered, leaning down and pressing lips to Kakyoin's.
Kakyoin gave him a sad seeming smile. "Good morning," he answered, stretching a little in Jotaro's grip.
"Did you sleep well?" Jotaro asked, still concerned that Kakyoin might not be sleeping as well as he should.
Kakyoin nodded, still quieter than he had been before Dio got his hands on him again. This concerned Jotaro because his normal personality seemed to have been suppressed somewhat. It was taking longer than Jotaro liked for his mannerisms to go back to normal. It had been a week already since they'd rescued him from Dio's clutches.
"The Fetish Ball at the Gold Experience is coming up. Are you going to be able to go to it?" Jotaro continued to run his hand over Kakyoin's head as he spoke.
"I'm fine," Kakyoin asserted with a shake of his head. Jotaro read between his words, though. Kakyoin wasn't entirely fine like he said.
"If you're sure," Jotaro said with a sigh. He knew it was as much as he was going to get out of him for now.
Jotaro got up and went to his closet, looking through it for a set of clothes for the day. It was the weekend again, so they had the day free. Kakyoin had gone back to work Tuesday after taking Monday off to rest. So far, he had dodged questions about the cuts on his face pretty well, but they both knew that people would talk about it. There were already rumors flying about that they hadn't heard yet, but they would eventually come across.
Kakyoin sat up on the side of the bed and stared at Jotaro as he got dressed. "I'm not ruined, am I?"
Jotaro turned back to him with a sigh. "Good grief," he muttered. "You've asked me that already. And I'll tell you again, no."
"But I'm not acting normal. You know it and I know it." He stared at his feet where they dangled off the bed.
"You will," Jotaro told him again and put one hand on his face gently. "You need time. What he did to you, I don't know because you don't seem to want to talk about it. That's okay, though, because I'm not going to force you to talk about anything you aren't ready for yet."
"If I was better, then I could tell you, but I can't," he responded, turning his face into Jotaro's hand.
Jotaro sighed. They'd been over this a dozen times already. He put his other hand on the other side of his face. "You will be better. This takes time. I'll wait until you're ready for however long it takes," Jotaro assured him again.
"But the Fetish Ball, I was looking forward to that and I want to go but…" he started.
"Shh," Jotaro said, putting a finger to his lips. "I told you we don't have to go."
"But I want to go, you don't understand!" he expressed exasperation. "I just want to be there, surrounded by the people I've come to care about. I just don't think I'm ready to do anything."
Jotaro sighed again. "Good grief. We can go, and just hang out. No scenes until you feel like you're up to it again."
"What if…what if I'm never up to it again?" he asked, eyes widening a bit at the thought.
"Then you're never up to it again. That doesn't matter to me. You matter to me, not the stuff we do. I started this for you, remember? I will wait for you to be ready, and if you never are, then that's fine too. Bruno won't care if we come to the club just to hang out."
He leaned forward and embraced him, holding him tightly to his chest. Jotaro could feel him breathing against his shoulder and knew he was on the edge of breaking down again. They'd been through this time and again, and Jotaro would go through it again and again, as long as it was necessary.
"Did you want to go to the event planning meeting?" he asked, leaning back and looking at Kakyoin's face.
Kakyoin nodded. "Yeah, I want to help with the planning and everything. I want to see everyone there, too."
Jotaro cupped his face again. "You just tell me if you need to leave."
"Okay," Kakyoin whispered, pulling Jotaro back in to hug him again. Jotaro went with what Kakyoin needed and returned the hug in kind.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Bruno sat down at the largest table beside Leone. It was still early and before the club officially opened. He looked up as the door opened and closed and saw Narancia and Fugo had arrived. He'd extended an invitation to Kakyoin and Jotaro, but he wasn't sure if Kakyoin was ready to come back after the events that had transpired. Narancia and Fugo both sat down across the table from him and Leone.
"Who else did you invite for this session?" Narancia asked as he sat down.
"Jotaro and Kakyoin, Giorno, Mista, and Trish, and Polnareff," Bruno answered as he took out a legal pad to make notes on.
"Speaking of, there's Giorno and Mista, but I don't see Trish," Fugo noted as the two came in through the door.
Giorno and Mista came up and sat down at the table. "Hey," Mista said as he flopped into a chair, leaning back a little.
"What all are we doing tonight?" Giorno asked as he looked around at the other five.
"Well, we're going to do a little planning, maybe talk about some things that we need to watch out for this year," Bruno explained, twirling the pen around his fingers as he spoke.
"Oh, yeah, like the year we had the druggies…" Fugo said, frowning.
The door opened again, and everyone looked up and saw that it was Jotaro and Kakyoin. Bruno waved at them and called them over. "Over here, have a seat, we were just getting started."
Jotaro steered Kakyoin with his hand on his back toward the table. They both took the last two seats at the table near the end. Bruno noted that Kakyoin still looked somewhat hollow and wasn't quite all the way back to normal yet. Of course, with Dio, there was likely a lot of things he was put through to humiliate and degrade him. He sighed, thinking they should get drinks.
"How are you doing, Kakyoin?" Bruno asked as he stood up.
"I'm okay," he said, smiling a bit at him. "I'm not all the way back to normal, but I'm better."
"That's good. I'll get some drinks for everyone. Oh, there's Polnareff," Bruno said as the bartender came into the place and waved at the table.
Bruno came back and set down a tray with some sort of punch for everyone. They all took a glass each and Fugo spoke up. "Yeah, the druggie incident was no fun."
"Druggie incident?" Jotaro asked, putting a hand around Kakyoin's shoulders.
"Yeah, we had this guy named Massimo Volpe come in. He had two subs with him, and it would have been fine, but they were high as a kite. One of the poor things, Vittorio I think his name was, started asking people to cut him and do some serious blood play with him. When they turned him down, he got angry and loud," Bruno explained. "They were on a variety of things, including poppers."
"That was the one where Fugo went off on him, wasn't it?" Narancia asked with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, I remember that. Massimo kept bothering me. I was in sub mode that night, and he kept saying that I liked being abused and had no self-esteem. That was bad enough to get my anger up, then the fucker grabbed my ass!" Fugo exclaimed with a shake of his head.
Narancia snickered. "Yeah, you punched him square. He was so mad because I was standing right there and not punishing him for it. I told him that no one gave him permission to touch Fugo here, and reacting that way was expected for something like that. He didn't seem to understand that subs that didn't belong to him were off limits and allowed to react to people messing with them."
"Well, he found out after that," Bruno said with a smirk. "Of course, then there was the Steely Dan incident."
Giorno scoffed. "I heard he got his penis fixed after that. Had to have surgery, I heard."
"You seriously broke his dick?" Jotaro asked with a wide-eyed look.
"He should have left me alone. Just because I dress like that, he thought he could pursue me. He deserved what he got," Giorno commented, shaking his hair back over his shoulder. "Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be permanent."
"At least there weren't any drugs in that one," Leone said, crossing his arms. "The doorman will be on the lookout for anyone that seems to be inebriated or under the influence. We don't want any people in here like that."
"Why is that, exactly?" Jotaro asked.
"Well, the main reason is because people under the influence of alcohol or substances don't have the ability to recognize when they've had enough. They have a dampened sense of pain, so there is no real telling when they should tap out or call out of a scene. If the Dom/me is under the influence, they might not listen or know when they're using too much force. All around, dangerous," Bruno said with a sigh. "Definitely something we screen for on big events."
"Do we have any big demos planned?" Mista asked, sipping his drink thoughtfully.
"I know Kars is going to do a fire play demo for us," Bruno told him. "He's been practicing it for a while with Wamuu. It should be a good show for everyone."
"Who is going to be doing the shibari demo this year?" Fugo asked.
"Jolyn is going to tie up their sub Anasui. I know that Hermes and F.F. plan to come with them as well," Bruno said with a smirk. "I always do love watching the cuckolds like him be tied up. Hermes and Jolyn really know how to work him into a lather."
"I don't think I know them…" Jotaro said, not recognizing the names of these people.
"Oh, you haven't had the pleasure of meeting them? Jolyne and Hermes are the Dommes and Anasui is their sub. F.F. is also their sub, but she's an asexual little. For her, being a little is a way to live out the childhood she never had. It was a sad deal, she had a mother that had Munchausen's-by-proxy. It was really unfortunate that she didn't get to have a childhood, but she makes an adorable little. She's quite fun to have around. All of them are, but their work schedules don't let them get out here very often. The Fetish Ball, though, they never miss." Bruno sipped his drink and sighed.
"As long as we don't have a bad incident, I'll be happy," Leone said with a sigh, still sitting with his arms crossed.
"Do you often have these bad incidents at the Fetish Ball?" Jotaro wondered as he squeezed Kakyoin gently against him.
"We don't have a great many problems," Leone told them. "We have our Dungeon Master, Risotto Nero, to keep an eye on things. Bruno and I will both be working, so keeping an eye out for anything amiss all night."
"What other demos might we have?" Fugo asked as he sat down his glass. "I always love to watch the demos."
Bruno looked thoughtful. "Well, I might have someone doing a wax play demo, and maybe something with some ribbon binding. It would be lovely to see it."
"Shame that Nero so recently did a needle play demo, or he could have done one for the ball," Narancia nodded. "But he's going to be Dungeon Mastering."
"So, do you think Zucchero and Sale will be there this year?" Mista asked with a frown, thinking about the pair.
"Wasn't Zucchero the one who got tossed out of Walmart for turning all the singing and dancing toys on at one time?" Giorno asked, looking over at Mista.
"Yeah, I think so…" Mista nodded with a thoughtful face.
"It's about time to open," Bruno said as he checked the time. "We should get ready. Will you all be playing tonight?"
Mista nodded. "We planned to get changed I in the back and go out to play a bit."
"We're having a movie night tonight, so we won't be back to play," Narancia said as he stood up. "We should be getting on our way or we'll be late."
Fugo nodded and stood up. "See you all later," he waved as they headed out the door.
"And you guys?" Bruno asked, looking at Kakyoin.
"Um, I would like to come but I don't think I'm ready to do anything yet," Kakyoin said sullenly.
"That's okay," Bruno said and gave him a smile. "Take your time on getting back to things."
Kakyoin smiled and finished the drink that Bruno had given him. He watched Bruno go back behind the bar and sighed.
"I feel like I'm broken," he muttered, looking at his hands.
"You aren't broken," Jotaro said with a squeeze of his shoulders again.
"But I am! I can't even think of going up on a cross again, and I am scared of wearing a collar again because it will all come back," he told Jotaro. "Something that I love, and he might have ruined it for me, and you."
"If it is something you love, don't let what he's done ruin it for you," Jotaro mumbled against Kakyoin's ear, nuzzling into his neck a little. "Dio is not here, and he has no control over you anymore. I'm your Master, right?"
"Yeah," Kakyoin nodded. "But how do I get him out of my head?"
"Time," Jotaro assured, kissing his neck gently. "You just need some time. Coming here will help with you getting comfortable with being around others who are in the Lifestyle."
"He made me do so many degrading things, I just can't close my eyes without seeing him." Kakyoin put his hands over his eyes. "And then he did this, so I can't forget."
"You are safe, and you can take as long as you need," Jotaro said as the club started to fill up around them.
Kakyoin nodded, leaning into Jotaro's warmth. How could he be so kind and gentle? How could he just accept him after everything that had happened? How could he be such an amazing partner to have? He felt sad but at the same time very glad to have Jotaro to help him thought this. He was always going to be his, and all the time when he was with Dio, he had never considered himself to belong to Dio. No, he completely and totally belonged to Jotaro. He breathed deep his scent and was a little bit relieved. They sat there the rest of the night, watching people come and go, and watching people play out scenes.
